ALBUM
THE CRYSTAL TEARDROP
LOVE YOU MORE
Rise Above Records
The Crystal Teardrop’s debut album was a wonderful piece of recording. Twelve Pop tracks that, through using old school recording techniques, captured the sounds of the sixties in all their glory. Jangly guitars, swirling keyboards and layered harmonies, we turned off the lights and floated through the lava lamps of our minds. Trippy and groovy, for us lovers of the sixties, it was like discovering an unsung classic of that era. We would have been content with more of the same for their second album but fact, they’ve given us the same but more.
Going right back to the ‘60s there is a very long list of bands who have disappointed in their second album. The Byrds’ Turn! being a prime example, the US even invented a term for it, the ‘Sophomore Slump’. No such evidence here of a slump as the album plays through. The songs and arrangements are on a par with their debut - the same - whereas the production, sounds and instrumentation are the ‘more’ part. Alex’s vocals are dreamier and more seductive and each member of the band has expanded their musical ability but ultimately, it is the strength of the songs that carries the album.
The title track, ‘Love You More’ is a prime example of all of the above. A better piece of sixties Pop written and performed sixty years after the decade, you will not find. ‘Tomorrow Starts Today’ has beautiful male-female vocals in the chorus, a trait that appears throughout the album and if Roger McGuinn ever gets to hear ‘Times Are Gone’, I’ll lay odds that he would have loved to have it on a Byrds album.
They have added more instruments including the obligatory sitar, but not in a ‘let’s throw in a swarmandal’ way, it’s done with taste and enhances the music rather than decorate it. Nowhere is this more evident than on ‘Touch The Sun’, a seven-minute meander through their psychedelic minds, (cue the liquid light show and zooming camera work), there is so much going on, it takes a few listens before you can begin to unpack the layers in it. The mix throughout the album is top-notch; on this track it’s exceptional.
A few final notes: Firstly, the running order has been considered carefully. It works as both a CD and a vinyl LP, the beginning and ending tracks for both sides flowing well. Secondly, it was recorded live with minimum overdubs so what you hear on the record, you’re pretty much going to get when you see them live and lastly, as I wrote in my review of their debut album, The Crystal Teardrop are not a pastiche of the sixties, they are lovers of the era and understand what went into the music – musicianship, experimentation and love.
Track List
Love You More
Tomorrow Starts Today
Times Are Gone
Outside Looking In
It’s Too Late
Circumstances
If I’m Right
Room Without A View
What It Adds to
The Thought’s You’re Thinking
The Eleventh Hour
Touch The Sun
ALBUM
BOBBIE DAZZLE
STAR POWER
Rise Above Records
To say that Bobbie’s career took off like a rocket is an understatement. Her debut came out at the end of 2024 and since then she’s been touring with Alice Cooper and Lita Ford and was also invited to play at the Hyde Park show with Jeff Lynne’s ELO, a date that had to be sadly cancelled by Jeff and the organisers due to the main man’s ill health. A disappointment definitely but you can’t stop Bobbie who took some time out at the start of 2025, reorganised those around her, got back on the road and recorded her second album. The aforementioned debut, Fandabidozi, contained the best new ten tracks of Glam Rock this side of 1978; can she do the magic again on Star Power?
She most certainly can and then some! The title track has several parts. Moving from a galloping riff with a chorus that reaches the stratosphere it then goes into a slower segment with a voiceover followed by a brief flute interlude which slips into a final all-out Rock section with the rhythm section in fifth gear, the guitar and keyboards throwing in their worth. It’s a belter of an opener, five minutes that dismisses any thoughts you may have had that Fandabidozi was a fluke.
There are straight rockers, ones that change tack when you least expect and others that give nods to her heroes of that era. Bobbie has spread her wings a lot more on this one, even venturing into the very edges of Prog. For this album, she has partnered up with her keyboard player, Chris Dando, to write the songs as opposed to Fandabidozi where she wrote everything herself. This, no doubt, has caused the slight shift in the arrangements and added Prog touches, Ash Baker on guitar and bassist Leon Smith, both from her live band, also making significant contributions and their playing throughout, is top drawer. Musically, there’s an awful lot to discover and get into on this album; the sonics in both production and mix enhancing, never swamping, what has been laid down.
More than anything though, it’s Bobbie’s voice that hogs the spotlight. Her enforced hiatus last year due to endometriosis, a condition that left her unable to walk, let alone sing on a stage, has made her stronger in every way which shows in her voice. More powerful with more notes added to it, she sings with both attitude and emotion, a rarity in today’s Rock world. I would go as far as to say that she has one of the best voices in Rock today.
Star Power is a delight from beginning to end. Bobbie’s debut was a 10/10 album, methinks the lady has just turned up to 11.
Track List
Star Power
Dirty Martini
The Passenger
Jack Rabbit
Wonder
The New Thing
Who Ya Gonna Lean On
Take To The Streets
Snakes & Ladders
Planets Collide
Feel It To